The pro-Israel donor with a $100 million plan to elect Trump
At Nevada caucuses in February, Donald Trump and several top aides had the attention of a Republican billionaire: Dr. Miriam Adelson. Trump wanted financial support from Adelson, a conservative megadonor, and she had a request or two. Be less bombastic, she told him, and speak more directly about the economy. She also needed him to be patient, as she would not donate to him while Nikki Haley, his last rival standing and a friend of hers, remained in the race, according to two people briefed on the meeting. Now Adelson is now fulfilling her promise, making moves to spend more than $90 million to help Trump’s third White House bid.
Trump can now criticize witnesses who testified against him, judge rules
A judge on Tuesday loosened a gag order on Donald Trump in his Manhattan criminal case, allowing him to criticize witnesses who took the stand against him as well as others involved in the trial that led to his conviction. Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s seven-week trial this spring, ruled that Trump is now free to complain about the prosecution’s witnesses, including his former fixer, Michael Cohen. Once Trump is sentenced on July 11, Merchan ruled, he can publicly assail others who are currently covered by the gag order, including prosecutors and their relatives.
Safety agency faults Norfolk Southern for ‘vent and burn’ after 2023 derailment
The National Transportation Safety Board issued recommendations Tuesday aimed at preventing the type of freight train derailment that occurred last year in East Palestine, Ohio, when 38 rail cars operated by Norfolk Southern came off the tracks. The board also faulted Norfolk Southern for concluding that the hazardous material being transported on 11 cars was at risk of exploding. That conclusion led to a “vent and burn,” in which toxic chemicals were released and incinerated. The NTSB had previously raised doubts about the need for a vent and burn, and at a meeting in East Palestine on Tuesday, the agency said the railway had “misinterpreted and disregarded evidence” in reaching that conclusion.
Judge skeptical of claim search was mishandled in Trump documents case
The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case showed little patience on Tuesday with an argument by his lawyers that the FBI’s search two years ago of Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, was conducted improperly. At a hearing, Trump’s legal team had asked Judge Aileen Cannon to suppress any evidence collected during the search because, they said, the warrant was not specific enough about which parts of the property the FBI could search and what items it could seize. “I have a hard time seeing what other language needed to be included,” Cannon said, all but ruling against them from the bench.
Killing of Texas girl becomes a new immigration flashpoint
The killing of a 12-year-old Houston girl, found last week in a city drainage ditch after having been strangled, was already a horrific crime. Then investigators arrested two recent Venezuelan migrants and charged them with killing the girl, Jocelyn Nungaray. The second of the two appeared in court on Tuesday; both were being held on a $10 million bond. Suddenly the killing, which had ripped apart a Houston family, became the latest flashpoint in the debate over immigration, seized on by Republicans and immigration opponents who drew a direct line between the crime and President Joe Biden’s policies at the border.
Anti-tax riots rock Kenya, as president vows crackdown on ‘treasonous’ protesters
Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and some broke into Parliament and briefly set fire to the entrance Tuesday, after lawmakers approved tax increases that critics said would drive up the cost of living for millions. During the protests, police fired tear gas and guns, plunging the capital into turmoil. At least five people were fatally shot and 31 others injured. As tear gas wafted through the streets, some protesters climbed through the windows of Parliament after lawmakers voted 195-106 in favor of the tax bill Tuesday, with supporters saying it would raise revenue for education and other essential services.
Israeli military must draft ultra-Orthodox Jews, Supreme Court rules
Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, a decision that threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government amid the war in the Gaza Strip. In a unanimous decision, a panel of judges held that there was no legal basis for the military exemption given to ultra-Orthodox religious students. Without a law distinguishing between seminarians and other men of draft age, the court ruled, the country’s mandatory draft laws must similarly apply to the ultra-Orthodox minority. In a country where military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, the exemption for the ultra-Orthodox has long prompted resentment.
Half a million in Gaza face starvation, report says
The Gaza Strip is at high risk of famine and almost half a million people face starvation because of a catastrophic lack of food, a group of global experts said Tuesday, though it stopped short of saying a famine had begun in the enclave because of the Israel-Hamas war. The analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a partnership of U.N. bodies and major relief agencies, said the amount of food reaching northern Gaza had increased in recent months. Israel, under intense pressure from global governments and aid organizations, recently opened border crossings for aid in the north.
ICC issues arrest warrants for 2 senior Russian security officials
The International Criminal Court said Tuesday that it had issued arrest warrants for two top Russian security officials over strikes against civilian targets, delivering a stinging, if largely symbolic, condemnation of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The Hague-based court accused Russia’s most senior military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, and a senior member of the country’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, of directing a campaign of strikes against Ukraine’s power plants in winter 2022. Russia’s Security Council denounced the warrants, calling them “pathetic” examples of “the West’s hybrid war against our country,” according to the Moscow-based Interfax news agency.
China Becomes first country to retrieve rocks from the Moon’s far side
China brought a capsule full of lunar soil from the far side of the moon down to Earth on Tuesday, achieving the latest success in an ambitious schedule to explore the moon and other parts of the solar system. The sample, retrieved by the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-6 lander after a 53-day mission, highlights China’s growing capabilities in space and notches another win in a series of lunar missions that started in 2007 and have so far been executed almost without flaw. China is looking to expand its presence on the moon, landing more robots there, and eventually human astronauts, in the years to come.
By wire sources